One day [Albert Lasker] was sitting in his offices, and a secretary handed him a note that said:

"I am downstairs in the saloon. I can tell you what advertising is. I know you don't know. If you wish to know what advertising is, send the word 'Yes' down with the bellboy. Signed – John E. Kennedy."

Lasker was intrigued and sent the word 'Yes' down to the saloon.

Kennedy was shown into Lasker's office.

He was a strapping 6-foot tall, ex-Mountie who used to write ads for the Hudson's Bay Company.

This isn't storytelling per se, it is more about a creative perspective on the product. What we do is give consumers a different story about a product. And this enhances their experience of the product. This is perhaps a shift from story-telling (you tell the story), to story-making - where you offer a perspective, or do something, that gives people a new story to attach to a product or experience.

This is pretty much what advertising agencies still do. So what else hasn't changed?

- Results: no matter what, clients want results, usually sales.

- Persuasion: it needs to change behavior in some way. It needs to be convincing.

- Emotion: drives action & memorability

- Attention: clients want to be noticed.

- Relevance: the work must be relatable and relevant to the target audience

- Insight: great work is always based on an insight into human psychology of the target

- Efficiency: clients will always want to pay less for more, and faster

- Recognition: clients will always want their brand to be more recognised

- Timing: when people see the ad, and the timing of the campaign in relation to whatever else is happening in the world is always going to be important.

If we innovate in service of these values, we will thrive. Marketing today still requires creative perspectives and brilliant copywriting, but is also informed by user experience design, behavioral economics, smart targeting (e.g. Google Adwords and Programmatic), and machine learning (smart recommendations and adaptive offers).

What are the other timeless truths of advertising or your aspect of the business (whether production, or print, or traffic, or strategy...). Our world is changing fast! The practices change, the principles remain.